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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30141840">The Six Stages</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hot_flippin_mess/pseuds/hot_flippin_mess'>hot_flippin_mess</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cancer, Hurt-comfort without the comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, I’m so sorry, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Zukka Week 2021, car crash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:00:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30141840</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hot_flippin_mess/pseuds/hot_flippin_mess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Pain. </p><p>Its something everyone experiences at some point in their lives. Be it from a simple hangnail to a catastrophic accident. No one can escape it no matter how hard they try. Pain is a threat of all people. Young, old, healthy, sick. If you life, you feel pain. Even in death, the final release, pain doesn’t let you go that easily.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Six Stages</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to my offering to the Zukka week 2021! Hurt/comfort without the comfort!! </p><p>I’m so sorry</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Pain. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Its something everyone experiences at some point in their lives. Be it from a simple hangnail to a catastrophic accident. No one can escape it no matter how hard they try. Pain is a threat of all people. Young, old, healthy, sick. If you life, you feel pain. Even in death, the final release, pain doesn’t let you go that easily. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Denial. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It didn’t seem real, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be real. He couldn’t be dead… He wasn’t… They lied. Yeah he lost vision and hearing on the left side of his face, which was bound to leave a nasty scar. But… No. He’s not dead, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> be.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Anger. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Doesn’t seem fair does it? How life can be so on your side one moment then turn its back on you the next. You get a great job, find the man of your dreams, plan on proposing then you take your eyes off the road for a second… </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Bargaining. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew it wouldn’t work. He knew he wasn’t at fault. He wasn’t drunk or high, just scared and nervous. But dammit… Swearing off drinking, smoke, late nights… everything he hated… That </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> to bring him back… Right...?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Depression.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried… went a solid month without a drink… But the ring was just so… heavy around his neck. It felt like every night his sisters would check on him, and fight back tears as they see the drunken mess in front of them, passed out on the couch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then he got diagnosed with liver cancer, and he was numb while his sister sobbed right next to him. Finally, he could die. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Acceptance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It had been two years since the accident. Two years since he lost the love of his life, six months since he got clean, three months since the surgery to remove his liver and transplant it. Things changed in those two years, He got the help he desperately needed, he stopped relying on his sisters. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He visited his grave every weekend, told him about their daughter they were planning on adopting. Told him she reminded him of his lover with her attitude, told him how much he loves him, and always will. He’d lay a rose down, press his hand over the name then leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Almost two years, he knows he won’t ever move on. But he’ll be damned if he doesn’t try.</span>
</p>
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